DNC

The Nebraska Democratic Party held their convention this weekend to select individuals for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. There was of course official business such as selecting language for the platform of issues the Nebraska Democrats stand for as well as electing officers for the next two years on the convention agenda.

But the real reason the turnout was at a record high of 800 attendees at the state convention was because this was the moment where Nebraska Democrats were electing the individuals to represent our state in Denver.

For many it was a disappointing weekend in the sense that over 800 individuals were in attendance, over 400 wanted to go to Denver, but there were only 25 spots available (plus 4 alternate spots). This is of course, in addition to the now infamous 6 Superdelegates that were already assigned to party officers and leaders.

In total, Nebraska is sending 31 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver with 4 alternates (these are the people clearly hoping someone can’t make the trip to Denver so they can fill their shoes on the floor of the convention hall).

The question many young people had at the state convention was just how many young people under the age of 35 will actually get to go to Denver?

Find out the answer at: think.mtv.com/janeflemingkleeb

Still no word on data from CIRCLE . . . sorry. Waiting on them for my post-election recap.

• Rolling Stone skewers the Senate in The Senate Caves.
• Peter Levine - Director of CIRCLE - splashes some cold water on the idea that party identification forms early and hardens for life. Yikes, let's hope not.
• In the past I've had real disagreements with Courtney Martin's reading of today's youth activism, but she does us all proud in this op-ed for the Women's Media Center.
• The RNC tried to pull ahead of the DNC in the race for Facebook friends. It backfired hilariously. Full story at Tech President.
• Campaigns and Elections has released a list of Rising Stars Under 35. A few are familiar. Most are not. What do you think of the list?
• Apparently, in his quest to craft a "better" GI Bill than the one offered (and recently passed) by Jim Webb, John McCain didn't actually consult many veterans. You stay classy, McCain.

One of the great side-effects of high youth turnout this year is a comparable increase in youth participation within the state parties. Here's two such stories.

First in Hawaii:

The infusion of new blood and energy is a blessing for many party activists eager for a "second wave" of new Democrats to keep the party in the majority in Hawai'i. With the state party's leadership in generational transition, the timing of the Obama surge is fortunate. The blend of new faces with party regulars enthusiastic about grassroots activism gives the convention a richness and vibrancy that has often been missing in recent years.
...
The number of party members under 35, according to the Young Democrats of Hawai'i, has jumped from under 1,000 to about 5,100 during the membership drive that surrounded the caucuses.

And in Wyoming:

Wyoming Democrats say the selection of two 18-year-olds as delegates to the party's national convention this summer is representative of an upswing in youth interest in politics -- a trend both Democrats and Republicans hope will translate into votes.
...
Mike Bell, chairman of the Laramie County Democrats, said this year's state Democratic convention was unique because of the competition for delegate positions and the number of young people involved. The young participants were well organized, he said.

"In years past, they've had to scramble to get people to go to the convention," Bell said. "There hasn't been this kind of excitement in a while."

You also probably remember that there were literally hundreds of young voters interested in delegate positions in California earlier this year.

These are all good signs, but we shouldn't pat ourselves on the back just yet. This is all anecdotal data from just a few states at the moment. Here are my top questions about youth participation within the state and national party structures:

• How many young people were successfully elected as pledged delegates at the state conventions this year? Are those numbers reflective of the youth share of the electorate in those states? If not (probably not), how can we use that to leverage the state parties and DNC into implementing the the mandatory youth affirmative action goals in the DNC charter?
• What resources will states put forth in organizing young voters this cycle? Which states will hire staff and actually have those staff work on youth identification and GOTV?
• How many young people are DNC committee members? Is that representative of young people's share of the Democratic electorate? If not, (probably not), how can we get more young people elected to the DNC?

I know that the DNC Youth Council is collecting data on the first issue. Many states have not yet selected their delegates and others are having problems collecting reliable data on delegates who qualify as "youth" (under 35). Hopefully we'll have a clearer picture of that soon. As for the other two questions - so far I don't know if anyone is working on that. The matter of how states dole out organizing resources is a tough one that will require a lot of local youth advocates making the case within their state party. The third issue seems to be a matter of data collection and self-organizing: find out how the election process works in each state and then help potential candidates navigate the system.

I'm flying down to Nashville this afternoon for the YDA Convention. I'll be asking around about these things.

Don't know how much I'll be posting this weekend. Playing it by ear, taking a break. Maybe do a little reading. I'm guessing y'all are doing the same. If you can't shake the political junk, this just might tide you over for the day:

• The campaign for the presidency of the College Democrats is underway. Hopefully I'll have some College Dems blogging about the race in the coming weeks and months. - Facebook
• Danah Boyd - self described Third Wave feminist - on why all this Hillary Sexism stuff is bull. - Apophenia
• Democrats Work is teaming up with General Wesley Clark for a community service project in the district of a Democrat running a tight race. Go vote on where the General will "serve." More on this later in the coming days. - Democrats Work
• Obama and "None of the Above" wins the "beer vote" this time around, according to a Rock the Vote poll. - USA Today
• McCain's courting of youth has limits. - International Herald Tribune
• Social Networks, Political Weapons - Washington Post
• DNC blunts GOP microtargeting lead. - The Politico
• I've noted this before, but these are really cool so I'll do it again. The Obama campaign has found a lot of grassroots support from graphic designers who are pumping out some awesome campaign swag. - My Barack Obama
• The RNC is running a voter-generated video contest. Winners will air during the convention. Oh yeah, and they're still using that weirdo zombie-elephant logo. - GOP Convention 2008
• Meanwhile, the FBI is attempting to infiltrate dangerous "vegan pot-luck" networks who could potentially disrupt the proceedings in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Seriously. - Boing Boing
• This is awesome. Reminds me of the old-school Nintendo days. Hat tip to Josh Levy at Tech President:

Its the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

"Voter excitement, always up before a presidential election, is pushing registration through the roof so far this year - with more than 3.5 million people rushing to join in the historic balloting, according to an Associated Press survey that offers the first national snapshot.

Figures are up for blacks, women and young people. Rural and city. South and North.

Overall, the AP found that nearly one in 65 adult Americans signed up to vote in just the first three months of the year. And in the 21 states that were able to provide comparable data, new registrations have soared about 64 percent from the same three months in the 2004 campaign."

That is only in 21 states we're comparing... can you imagine what its like for all 50 states?

Our good buddies at the DNC sent out a memo detailing the information as well as quoting pertinent stats

• "Turnout for voters 18-29 has increased dramatically-tripling or quadrupling in many states-this election season. So far, more than 5 million young voters have participated, with an overwhelming number going for Democrats-building on gains made among this key demographic in 2004 and 2006. [civicyouth.org]
• This trend can be seen in state after state. In Massachusetts, for instance, youth turnout doubled, with young people voting for Democrats over Republicans nearly 3- to-1. 168,863 young people voted for Democrats while only 62,159 voted for Republicans, nearly tripling the numbers from 2004 [55,367] and 2000 [45,722]. [civicyouth.org]
• Recent polls confirm these results. According to a Pew study released last month, 58 percent of voters under 30 now identify as Democrats or lean Democratic, while only 33 percent associate with Republicans. The gap is even greater for young female voters-63 percent to 28 percent. [Pew Study, released 4/28/08]"

And we still have several more months left to register more. This is a great motivator for all those orgs out there - and its a great fundraising tool for those working on young voter registration, GOTV, and doing youth specific organizing.

In the past the youth movement has had a lot of drop off to get funders to invest in the youth movement - ideally this will rejuvenate those past donors and encourage bringing about new ones.

Happy fundraising!

While you are waiting for the PA results to come in, check out these stories around the internets:

• The DNC has an excellent primer on all things related to the Democratic Convention: Delegates, Super Delegates, and more.
• The New York Times notes that age is the biggest predictor of support (aside from race) in the Democratic primary, a trend I'm sure we'll see play out later tonight.
• MySpace has teamed up with NBC news to produce a snazzy new political section to their website: Decision '08. This is very similar to the partnership ABC forged with FaceBook. For MySpace's sake, I hope it's more effective. And if anyone is reading, or goodness sake, please stop the video from auto-playing. The last thing I want is Chris Matthews blaring at me whenever I hit your site.
• U.S. cell phone voters would like to be able to vote via text.
• Bush's approval ratings are the lowest of any President in the last 70 years. Maybe that's why he decided it was a good idea to appear on Deal or No Deal last night.
• The Nation has launched their annual student writing contest.
• CNN's League of First Time Voters, which you may be hearing about tonight, is catching flack from youth activists.
• Finally, students in Washington and Arizona are competing to see who can register more new voters on Facebook:

The DNC Youth Council is getting ready to hold three more trainings on how to become delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August:

Last week, we held our first conference call training on the process to be a delegate from New Mexico. The training was extremely successful and we are eager to get underway with our next round of calls.

Below one will find a listing of some of our upcoming calls. Please spread the word to as many people as possible about these. On each call we will be joined by a member of that respective state's party to go over the process to be a Congressional District, PLEO, or At-Large delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In addition to the specific training, we will be sure to provide information on how to get more involved with the State Party and other youth organizations.

The upcoming calls are:
Georgia - March 31st at 5pm EST
Phone: 866-810-8093
Code: 678-893-3989

Utah - April 1st at 6pm EST
Phone: 866-810-8093
Code: 822-976-6817

Wisconsin - April 2nd at 7pm EST
Phone: 866-810-8093
Code: 822-976-6817

One of my gigs this year is as an At-Large Delegate to the DNC Youth Council. This year, the youth council is working to increase the number of young people attending the Democratic Convention as delegates.

To that end, we're going to be holding some conference calls in the coming months to help young people navigate the delegate election process. Later this week we'll hold the first of these calls, this time describing the delegate selection process for New Mexico.

If you are in New Mexico and are interested in learning how to become a delegate to the Democratic Convention (which is shaping up to be the convention of the century for political junkies), be sure to call in. Here's the info from DNC Youth Council President (and himself a super delegate), Jason Rae:

Our first call will take place on Wednesday, March 19th at 6:00PM EST (4:00PM MST) focusing on the delegate selection process for New Mexico. We will be joined on the call by Josh Geise, Interim Executive Director of the New Mexico Democratic Party. The call is open to any and all individuals in learning how to be either a Congressional District, PLEO, or At-Large delegate to the Democratic National Convention from New Mexico. In addition to the specific training, we will be sure to provide information on how to get more involved with the State Party and other youth organizations. (If you or your organization have specific information you would like to have mentioned, please email me and let me know as soon as possible.)

The call-in number for the call is 866-810-8093 and the code is 822-976-6817. The call will begin promptly at 4:00PM MST on Wednesday.

Update: Cyrstal Strait called me to stress that she has not, in fact pledged her vote to Clinton but is still weighing both of the candidates.
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Yesterday I wrote about Super Delegates Under 36. Now I want to focus more concretely on those who are Super Delegates by virtue of their role as leaders within the Young Democrats of America and the College Democrats of America. Specifically, these are:

We're in a fairly unique situation right now. We are in the middle of the most closely contested primary contest in decades. Young voters are turning out in record numbers and their importance in this race is widely recognized in the media, the political class, and the general public. With the focus turning away from the popular voting in the states and towards the roll of Super Delegates in the nominating process, it's imperative that the Super Delegates representing the youth community cast their vote in such a way that it empowers and enfranchises the organizations they lead and the young voters they represent.

In the last few days, I've either had a conversation or exchanged emails with four of these five Super Delegates (the exception being David Hardt), asking them a few basic questions:

1. Have you declared support for a candidate?
2. What is your criteria for deciding your vote?
3. Would you consider a number of alternative criteria (described below)?

The delegates with whom I spoke were cagey about declaring their support, for a variety of reasons. Most significantly, it is the policy of both the College Democrats and the Young Democrats that the organization and the leadership stay neutral during a presidential primary. Many of them seemed uncomfortable with the position in which they found themselves, and expressed a belief and/or a desire to see the nomination wrap up in such a way that their vote at the convention would not be a deciding factor.

(The exception to this was Francisco Domenech, one of YDA's elected representatives to the DNC. Domenech declared his support for Hillary Clinton in December. Crystal Strait would not declare support for a candidate during our conversation, but the youth rumor mill has it that she will likely cast her ballot for Clinton, which is why I have marked her status as "uncertain" in my chart.)

At this point it is unrealistic to think that the nomination can be resolved in such a way that "their vote won't matter." Super Delegates are under enormous scrutiny right now, and news outlets are reporting that it is mathematically impossible for Clinton or Obama to carry the nomination without the support of super delegates. How they vote does matter and it will be scrutinized, no matter what the outcome. As such, the criteria by which they make that decision also matters a great deal.

In the short term, the delegates themselves - and the organizations they represent - will need to account for those votes. In the long term it matters because it will set a precedent. Whether they wish it or not, the criteria by which these five delegates cast their ballot will reflect (well or poorly) on their organization, and it will in part determine how future YDA and CDA super delegates cast their ballots. As such, these delegates need to think carefully about what will build the most power for their organization and their constituency, as well as what it means to be an elected representative of young voters on the DNC.

When I pressed the delegates for their potential (or determined) criteria, I was met with the following responses:

1. Domenech offered three criteria: what the candidate meant politically for the youth vote (resources expanded in campaigning, etc.), the candidate's issue positions, and what the candidate meant for Latinos in general and Puerto Rico in particular.
2. Another delegate stated that they would vote for the candidate most likely to pass policy proposals beneficial to students.
3. A third expressed a desire to use their position as a super delegate to leverage promises from the campaigns about young voter outreach and representation at the DNC and pick the canididate making the most/best promises

I do not believe that any of these criteria should be used in determining how YDA and CDA super delegates cast their ballot for three reasons: these concerns are either personal, subjective, or unenforceable.

Domenech's criteria place too much power in his personal preferences, and weights his personal history against his role as a YDA officer, by which he is afforded this opportunity to be a super delegate. The second criteria is entirely subjective as it relies on the personal judgment of the individual as to which proposals are better, and it offers no guarantees that said proposals will ever be enacted. The third criteria relies on an unrealistic view of the leverage that each super delegate actually wields - even in such a close race. No promises made prior to the convention, no matter how concrete, are enforceable. The candidate can only make good on promises if they become the nominee, and the Super Delegate gives up all their power once they cast a ballot. This is a one-way exchange that relies on good faith and the unrealistic assumption that promises made by campaigns in the heat of the nomination, to hundreds of distinct delegates no less, will all be honored at a later date. That's a gamble at best.

Instead, I offer the following criteria:

• YDA and CDA super delegates should cast their ballots in such a way that empowers and enfranchises the constituents they represent.
• YDA and CDA super delegates should cast their ballots in a way that concretely and verifiably builds power for young voters and their organizations.

What does that look like? I think there are two viable options, which I've ranked in the order in which I favor them:

1. National Youth Popular Vote: YDA and CDA delegates should ratify the results of the youth vote nationally. For YDA, that means voting the way that the majority of 18 - 35 year olds voted in the combined caucuses and primaries. For CDA, that means casting their ballot the way that the majority 18 - 24 year olds cast their ballot. Linking the Super Delegate vote to the youth vote nationally gives candidates - especially in a tight race - an extra incentive to go after young voters. If they know that a national win among the youth vote will results in dedicated commitment from super delegates, youth outreach will be more attractive to the campaign. This has the additional advantage of giving millions of young voters who cast their ballots a seat at the table in the otherwise "smoke-filled-room" world of the Super Delegates. As such, this meets both criteria that I laid out. It enfranchises and further empowers young voters in an otherwise insider process, and it concretely builds power for YDA and CDA by incentivizing youth outreach and youth-centric policy proposals by the campaigns. I believe this to be the most feasible (technically) and democratic of all the options, and encourage both CDA and YDA to set a precedent and informally adopt this rule.
2. Poll the YDA and CDA Membership: YDA and CDA could conduct polls of their membership (as MoveOn does) and informally require that the super delegates abide by the results. Instant run-off voting could be employed to ensure that one candidate receives a majority of votes. There are technical challenges to this - both organizations must ensure that the polls cannot be rigged, and the polling should require that a certain percent of the membership participate to ensure a fair sampling. Technically, this option meets both criteria. YDA and CDA leaders will enfranchise and empower their membership. As with the National Popular Youth Vote, it will incentivize outreach from the campaigns, though that outreach might focus on a smaller number of people (i.e. YDA and CDA members). And it will certainly build power for YDA and CDA by emphasizing the importance of their membership in the nomination process. That's not a bad thing, as it rewards participation in Democratic (Party) politics. However, I dislike this option somewhat as it could result in the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of other younger voters if YDA and CDA members choose a candidate not ratified by the majority of young voters.

I briefly toyed with the idea of a third option - that of letting each representative cast their ballot according to the popular youth vote results in their state, however that too presents a number of problems. For example, Lauren Wolfe, the President of CDA, is from Michigan, where only Hillary Clinton was on the ballot, and "uncommitted" won the youth vote. Lauren cannot vote for "uncommitted" at the convention. Does that mean Lauren is a free agent? Is she obliged to NOT vote for Clinton, who lost the popular youth vote? In the end, this method is least likely to build power for young voters nationally, and most likely to result in the disenfranchisement of young voters in general, or YDA and CDA members in particular, so I dropped it from my list as unviable.

What is most important here is that, while the media and public's attention is captured, YDA and CDA super delegates set a precedent and employ criteria that ratifies the will of young voters and/or their membership. Anything less will be a disaster for these organizations.

For years YDA and CDA were regarded as ineffectual social networking clubs - a way to pad resumes, network with party hacks, and start a career in politics: kids in suits playing politics. This was not an inaccurate analysis. That's changed since 2003. In the last four years - more so at YDA than at CDA - real field work and engagement of young voters became the mission and the passion of youth organizers. That change in mission and values - the greater focus on the worth and power of young voters - should be reflected in the way that YDA and CDA apportion their super delegates.

These positions are not rewards for the few who succeed in climbing the political rungs within these institutions. Rather, they are responsibilities that the leadership owes to those who have elevated them: the young voters about whom we've heard so much this election cycle. YDA and CDA super delegates should not thwart the will of those they represent. If they do - if they vote their personal preferences over the preferences of young voters or their membership - it will be hard to not to see it as the resurgence of the "kids in suits" mentality that hobbled the organizations for so long.

With Obama and Clinton neck and neck in the race for the Democratic nomination, Super Delegates - party members, elected officials, and others who will automatically be granted a vote at the party's nominating convention - are getting a lot of ink these days.

Super Delegates sounds like a lot of old white guys in a smoke filled room - and in some cased, that's exactly what they are - but there are also a number of young Super Delegates, and it may be that they will have an outsized-say in who our nominee will be this year.

Here's a quick look at all the super delegates (to my knowledge) that are under the age of 36. The ones that are in bold are in the leadership of the College and Young Democrats of America. I'll have a longer post up later today outlining my thoughts on the criteria by which they should determine how to cast their ballot.

Update: I've added in whether or not these delegates have pledged to support a candidate. Most of this information comes from the Democratic Convention Watch. Where information conflicts with rumors in the youth vote community or with conversations I myself have had with the delegates, I've marked their status as "uncertain."